It's Time for a TV News Outlet to Call Donald Trump's Bluff

Can I make a modest proposal to the people who run the news divisions of the various broadcast and cable outlets that I watch on my electric teevee machine? I know you can't get enough of Donald Trump and his campaign of ignorance and vandalism. It drives ratings. It snags the ol' eyeballs. And he is leading in the polls, largely because of the widespread pandemic of the prion disease in the Republican party. But, here's what I think. No more phone calls. If he wants to be on your air—which is actually air that belongs to all of us, but this is no time to get into that—then he has to sit his ass down in your studio and take questions face-to-face. I know of no other candidate for any office anywhere who's gotten away with just being a voice on the telephone. It's one baby step away from Hal Philip Walker, the candidate in Robert Altman's Nashville who campaigned only as a voice on a sound truck. In your cowardice and your insecurity, you've allowed him to rewrite rules that you have every right and duty to enforce. He is getting away with murder, figuratively, at least at the moment, and you're letting him do it. Good god, what's next?

Trump pulled the stunt once before, demanding that CNN donate the proceeds from its September Republican presidential debate to a charity. The network didn't publicly comment on the request and Trump ultimately participated in the debate. Trump again floated the idea of the network donating money to charity in exchange for his participation during a campaign rally in Georgia. "How about I tell CNN that I'm not gonna do the next debate?" Trump said to his audience, as quoted by USA Today. "I won't do the debate unless they pay me $5 million, all of which money goes to the Wounded Warriors or to vets."

Call his bluff. Tell him to pound sand. Yes, he'll go out and do something spectacular and dumb, and the spectacularly dumb people at his rallies will cheer and go crazy and buy more baseball caps, and people will say nasty things about you on the radio, and your ratings likely will tank, but at least you'll have some self-respect left. If you don't tell him to get lost now, well, we really are just haggling about the price, aren't we?